Really. I'm allergic to cats.

I used to have a cat. Her name was Pompey. I loved Pompey. I considered her "my" cat. She was a meany when she was a kitten. She's hide under the couches in our house in Price, Utah and when anyone would walk by, she'd run out and attack them. Yes. Attack them. It was awful. Leighann and Lynette soon learned to stay out of the living room. It was too dangerous.

Pompey grew up to be the most loving cat. You could hold her to your chest and she'd literally wrap her arms around your neck like she was giving you a great big kitty hug. I loved that cat.

On September 6, 1974 I turned 10 years old. My dad had to judge bug collections at the Utah State Fair, so we were headed to Salt Lake City for the day. This was to be my birthday celebration, I guess. We all hopped in the car and along came Pompey. She wanted to come along too! We shooed her out and began backing out of the driveway. We knew when it happened... we had run over Pompey. She was flat as a pancake at the neck. I was devastated and so, so sad. We were in a hurry, so we scooped her up with the shovel, put her in the back pasture, and headed off the the Fair.

A couple of weeks later I was heading out to the pasture for some reason and I was stopped in my tracks. We'd forgotten about Pompey. There she was, crawling with maggots and flies. I had never seen anything so revolting... mind you, I was only 10. I went and got my mom and she came out with me and we buried Pompey. I was so sad to see her that way, but knew noone did that intentionally. We just forgot in the busy-ness.

I never did get another cat. It wasn't intentional. I was just growing up and it didn't matter to me anymore. We had dogs after that anyway. I still loved cats because of Pompey, but just never had opportunity to own a cat again.

When I was pregnant with Samantha, I was over at Leighann's house when I noticed that for the last several times I had been there, I was sneezing and sniffling. It wasn't bad, just a little odd. After a few more visits, we finally decided that I must be allergic to her cat. Since then, the allergy has escalated. Besides the sneezes and sniffles, my ears itch so bad I can't hear well. My eyes water and quite often will develop blisters on the whites of them. If I don't leave soon after that, my eyes will hurt so bad I can't open them any longer. Within about 45 minutes, my throat feels like it's swelling shut. Sometimes I start to panic about being able to breathe, but I can usually talk myself out of that... or leave. I even have a reaction when I sit next to someone who owns a cat! After I leave, I usually feel like I have the flu for several days...at least 3, sometimes as long as a full week. I'm just NOT a happy camper anymore when it comes to cats.

Isn't it sad... cause I used to be so happy with cats. :)


This past summer, I was at my parents' house. They used to have a cat... well, several cats. But none have lived there for several months. I was looking for some books that my mom thought might be in a closet. In doing so, I knelt on a chair that was in front of the closet to check on the upper shelf. After about 5 minutes, this is what my knee looked like.

 

In case you can't see anything... here's both knees. And it BURNED like crazy!

 

Really. I'm allergic to cats. :)